


Coach

by maiNuoire



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 05:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6553579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maiNuoire/pseuds/maiNuoire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric Bittle hasn't called his father "dad" more than a handful of times in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coach

**Author's Note:**

> Ok. So. I’m having a lot of feelings about how Bitty calls his Dad “Coach,” and I got really sad about it last night, and wrote a ficlet that I might (will probably) expand on, but for now it’s a little tiny thing so I can share my emotions with you fine folks.

Eric Bittle has only ever called his father “dad" a handful of times, mostly when he was very small; otherwise, he’s always been Coach.

It wasn’t until he was older that Eric noticed that it had created a distance between them, and by then, it felt too late to change.

Growing up, everyone else always referred to his dad as Coach, it’s just what you did in small towns in the South; your title becomes your identity in a lot of ways, and so, Eric joined the cashier at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, even his momma, in calling the man “Coach".

When he tried to please his daddy by joining his football team, it wasn’t hard to keep from slipping up and saying _“Yes, daddy,_ ” instead of _“Got it, Coach,”_ which helped him with the other boys marginally, but didn’t keep him safe off the field. Or on it.

When he left the team, with his momma’s full support and a disappointed frown from his father, calling the man Coach helped him feel less like a disappointment. After the double insult of failing at football and showing considerable talent and passion for figure skating, it was a welcome barrier. The whispers and raised eyebrows that made Eric shake and sweat, and kept him up at night anxiously crying into his pillow didn’t hurt as much when it was Coach grumbling about them instead of Daddy.

But somehow, the idea of _coming out_ to Coach? That was terrifying. Eric would give anything to be able to come out to his momma and daddy, but he’s not sure that that’s an option any more.

Having Jack meet his parents after they’re together, after they’ve navigated the difficult landscape of long distance relationship and necessarily, if temporarily, closeted one, is both exhilarating and the scariest thing he’s ever done.

Hearing Coach gush over Jack’s career and how _proud_ his father must be of him is like a slap in the face, and Eric feels something painful clench in his belly. 

Then he feels Jack’s leg press against his under the table, a warm, solid, reassuring line, like Jack knew exactly what was spiraling through his head. Jack’s fingers flutter over the back of Eric’s hand, flexed under the guise of reaching for his glass of water, and it settles the ache in Eric’s heart enough that he can smile through the rest of dinner.

Later, he’ll talk to Jack, he’ll start working on the speech he’s written and rewritten a few hundred times since middle school, he’ll maybe try to drop hints to his momma, to get a feel for her reaction. He’ll think about slipping a “ _dad_ “ into conversation, see how it feels, if it changes anything between them.

He’ll curl up against Jack and talk about a future, the one they’re hoping for together, where their parents accept them, and they get to go to sleep at night wrapped around each other. Where it won’t matter what he calls his father, because the man will be proud to call him his son.

**Author's Note:**

> Come [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/poetry-protest-pornography) with me!


End file.
